Few starter questions

[Dem]

Picked up a used hpi savage x 4.6. friend bought it broke it in maybe put a couple tanks threw at start of summer. Then met a girl let it sit all summer then sold it to me at a nice price...

I don't have much experiance with nitro. I had an offbrand pos one time before that was a bad experiance lol.. thing was junk out of the box..

So here are my questions.

I have watched every video and read every thread on tuning.

What is the stock needle settings for hsn lsn. And which way do i turn them befor counting it back to stock.

I ask this because i am concerned about my lsn. I typically see fuel comming out of the pipe during idle or low throttle however i see absolutly no smoke during idle or low idle unless i hit the gas. Which is why i havnt touched my new toy much. I know I'm supposed to tune the hsn first. Then do the lsn however I'm in no rush to break my new toy and want to see some smoke during idle before i tune it lol but it dosent seem to matter where the lsn is as i don't see smoke untill i floor it.

More questions. I live in canada about an hour from toronto..

I am wondering what glow plugs you would reccomend for hot weather and cold weather. When i stopped in toronto at a hobby store and asked the guy for some glow plugs for my savage he sold me o.s. r10 ( on package it says new name for r5 plug) so i imagine they are o.s. r5 plugs ( cold plug). Well i have read that cold plugs are for 30% nitro fuel. As the higher fuel goes to explode quicker and the colder plug explodes it a little later. I am running 20% traxxas fuel. So what plugs should i be using.

Upon buying the truck i couldnt even use it cause i was missing the glow igniter. Filter oil. All the basics. And when i drove back to buy them.. i forgot a few things.

Is lucas foam air filter oil ok to use on my air filter. As i can buy it from canadian tire and itd save me more trips.
What are your recommendations on cleaning the truck ? Some sorta nitro truck spray cleaner ? Air peg? Air compressor?

What are some decent tools to buy to use on the truck? I see allen wrenches etc are required. Any suggested tools or are cheap ones fine.

Any suggested upgrades. When my friend bought it he bought upgrades to. Tuned metal pipe. Hardened something something gears and what not. I am personally wondering about a bottom middle plate that covers the breaks and what nots on the bottom.

My breaks where working ok at start.. but not so good after i put one tank threw it. I understand a peice of metal pipe will help. But i find there is a ton of play on the bottom with the 2 break shoes or whatever they may be called. Also beleive i only see 2 metal adjusters or whatever when i beleive i heard 3 in most break videos. Any thoughts? Thanks for your time

 

[LeroyX]

Hey welcome to the forum!

Tuning a nitro is going to take some tinkering but you'll get the hang of it if you take you time and really listen to that engine. First off if you have fuel coming out of the pipe you are waaay to rich, reset the needles to stock. I don't know what the stock settings are for the 4.6 but one thing HPI does have is an excellent website with the uses manuals of all their vehicles readily available.

As for tuning have a good read of this guide http://www.extremercmods.com/content/tuning-popup.html its what I have always used and I have find it to be the easiest to follow with the best end result.

As for upgrades first get the tuning down and then worry about upgrading when you start breaking things. One thing you can do is go through the truck and make sure all the screws are nice and tight. Check the wheel nuts for sure and then keep checking them each time you run.

Adjusting brakes is constant on these trucks. Do a little research on here, there are several ways to improve the stock setup without too much effort.

Good luck!

 

[Jam Racing 1]

https://www.hpisavageforum.com/threads/nitro-engine-factory-settings.11154/

https://www.hpisavageforum.com/threads/list-of-useful-nitro-engine-threads.13941/

as Leroy stated tuning and listening to your engine is an art and takes patience and practice..
as for using traxxas fuel, you are much better served by using a different brand of fuel, I have used SideWinder 20% basher blend for years and it is known good fuel, some others are Odonnel, Byrons, and some others, I have never liked Traxxas fuel as it is designed for small blocks and is not up to big block use....

Read through the threads linked and it may help answer some of your questions on tuning....

 

[Jam Racing 1]

F4.6
High Speed Needle: Flush with groove
Low Speed Needle: Flush with case
IDLE: 1 mm


Think of the needle face as a clock face and make tiny 1 hour adjustments to the needles, if you want to go to base setting as I linked above then gently turn both needles clockwise till they bottom and start opening them up going CounterClockwise until you reach the starting settings..
The term flush with the groove refers to the slot in the needle adjusting face, the term flush with the case means the face of the needle being flush with the outer casing of the carburetor and you can use a small 1mm drill bit to set the idle setting, keep in mind these are stock breaking settings and you may have to lean the high needle for it to run due to it being partially broken in..

You may not see much smoke at idle, but a good smoke trail at near wide open should produce a decent smoke trail from the exhaust...
A good thing to have is some way of temping the engine accurately, there are many infrared temp devices sold...
Good Luck with your rig and any questions you have post them, the guys round here are a good bunch and will help share knowledge..

 

[Dem]

What type of glow plug is best.
And should i run 20 or 30% nitro

 

[Jam Racing 1]

Medium plug is what I am using and 20% nitro is fine for just starting out, 30% nitro makes more heat usually and is usually used by racers for more power at the expense of more wear on the engine...

 

[Dem]

Medium plug is what I am using and 20% nitro is fine for just starting out, 30% nitro makes more heat usually and is usually used by racers for more power at the expense of more wear on the engine...

Any recommendations for on road tires that i can buy rims and rubber for cheap.

Having issues finding fuel. I do have a bottle of blue thunder aswell but never tryed it.

 

[NightFlier X4.6]

Back when i raced my savage i liked the pro line road rage tires. As for blue thunder i ran it back in the day and loved it. I'm tring O'Donnell fuel now haven't ran it much yet.

 

[Dem]

Medium plug is what I am using and 20% nitro is fine for just starting out, 30% nitro makes more heat usually and is usually used by racers for more power at the expense of more wear on the engine...

Jam. I read in a post somewhere of yours not to use aro.. but to use wd40 wanna confirm ?

Just went for a drive to london ontario. Picked up a gallon of 20% sidewinder and some medium plugs. O.s. a8

Last question would be. I understand the difference in plugs and fuel % but the manual on the 4.6 says to use a cold plug. Was wondering why.

 

[Jam Racing 1]

Jam. I read in a post somewhere of yours not to use aro.. but to use wd40 wanna confirm ?

Just went for a drive to london ontario. Picked up a gallon of 20% sidewinder and some medium plugs. O.s. a8

Last question would be. I understand the difference in plugs and fuel % but the manual on the 4.6 says to use a cold plug. Was wondering why.

I use WD 40 in all my nitro engines ARO is fine if you plan on running it again very soon, but for winter storage I use WD 40... as for the plug using a medium seems to run better for me...
I do not run my stuff all the time so I use WD 40 because it displaces water and will prevent rust on internal parts VS ARO which also will gum up things inside engines when they sit for a few weeks/months.....

 

[Dem]

I use WD 40 in all my nitro engines ARO is fine if you plan on running it again very soon, but for winter storage I use WD 40... as for the plug using a medium seems to run better for me...
I do not run my stuff all the time so I use WD 40 because it displaces water and will prevent rust on internal parts VS ARO which also will gum up things inside engines when they sit for a few weeks/months.....

Took a drive to walmart last night.

Was a better experiance with the sidewinder and medium plug.. had truck set to factory settings.. started on one touch of the roto start.. was able to see a small amount of smoke during idling.. started tuning the hsn. Had to stop tuning once it started doin wheelies at it seems the breaks suck on it. Rubber on one of my tires came off to lol.. Thanks for the time.

I am wondering if i could be pointed in the direction of 4 cheap tires and rims that will fit my 4.6 that will last a few runs till i can grab some better ones

 

[Dem]

Could use some direction on upgrades.

Put a tank threw it today and about halfway threw the tank i noticed it starting to sound pretty lean upwards of half throttle or so. Unsure cause my lsn is at break in specs. Noticed a boiling sound near the gas tank. When i turned it off.. unsure if that was caused by being slightly lean or cause i was trying to go up a dirt laneway and ended up doin some donuts as it was slippery.

Currently need. 4 wheel sets un glued prefferably on road tires.. not to framiliar with sizes and pics etc on ebay.ca and amazon.ca don't tend to help

I'm interested in.

Good fuel tank
4 tires with rims not glued ( on road tires) cheaper is preffered as i will grab some phaltlines when i have the cash.
Good servo
Battery pack for servo ( I'm using a traxxas remote. And see a traxxas receiver in the truck) unsure if that matters.. if it does point me in a decent remote direction to

Way to upgrade my breaks. Ive been looking up the ofna upgrade but can only find one out of the three ofna bags to do the ugrade